#5SmartReads-August 26, 2021

Marisa on post COVID life and vaccines

Today’s regular guest contributor is Marisa! Follow her journey in the midwest here!

After A Year Without Rowdy Tourists, European Cities Want To Keep It That Way (Bloomberg)

I'm an American, and I'll be the first to say it: Americans have reputations as terrible tourists for a reason.

As it turns out, that's not exactly a secret, and so big European tourist cities like Amsterdam and Prague have been taking some time during the lull of the pandemic to evaluate how they keep tourist dollars coming into their countries while also keeping their residents and neighborhoods quiet and thriving.

There are some interesting thoughts here, and while personally I am 100% on board with their vision for a quieter, calmer version of European tourism (really, how could anyone who has been part of the cattle call at Versailles not be??), I also want policy makers to be mindful of how easily this kind of rhetoric and subsequent action could slip into sheer elitism.